Birch Scent in the Jungle
by fionasquid
Summary: Jack and Kate are on the pier and the Others had taken Sawyer away. And they are about to take him and Kate too. One by one. But Jackie boy has other plans.


The sun was coming straight to her eyes, making them go partly blind. She squinted them close but the bright light was still unbearable. A cloud drifted to block the sun for a moment and she realized her chance to explore the pier and what was going on around her had come.

To her right was Jack's figure on his knees, just like she was. It looked as if his face had been beaten but aside from that fact he looked strong and willing to take in everything they had to offer. Even more beating if that was all they were capable of doing. He didn't want to give them the impression that they could break him down. She could only wish that she would be able to maintain as hard-core profile as he was. Unfortunately for both of them, she wasn't.

She turned her face to her left but the place that Sawyer had once occupied was now empty. Kate heard him yell and curse like somebody had come to kill him when they had dragged his away. He even could be dead by now. She closed her eyes and bite her bottom lip as hard as she could. They will not see her cry. They weren't worth her tears.

"Kate!" someone whispered sharply.

It was Jack. He was looking at her and as Kate turned to face him, she met his gaze. He had an unexpected emotion reflecting from his eyes. Determination. You'd think that that emotion would rather be something like sadness or sheer panic. But in his case those emotions weren't there. Or at least he didn't allow them to shine through.

She replied to his whisper with a little, barely noticeable nod, letting him know that she had heard him and was listening with all ears what he had to say.

"Are you OK?" Jack asked, scanning her figure briefly to check if there would be any visible injuries.

She nodded again, being too afraid to actually say something out loud. The Others could hear her and attack them.

Glancing to Sawyer's place, he also got a bit emotional. They had him. But why? What sick pleasure did they get out from this all? Although the missing Sawyer made his stomach turn upside down, he had more important things to worry at the moment. Getting her safe. It's not like he could do much help to him anyway. But they would never get her. _Ever._

She had still her eyes fixed on him, waiting that he would say what ever it was that he had been trying to tell her a minute ago.

"We need to get away. And here's how we are going to do it," he said silently.

Henry walked towards them, his usual smothered and all-knowing smile on his face. A few other men followed behind but letting him pace ego-boostingly way ahead. Jack's eyes narrowed as he watched the man that was coming dangerously closer and closer to him.

"One down, two to go," Henry said and the smile widened. "So which one should we take next? What do you think?"

Both men behind him stayed silent. They had learned by now that all decisions were made by him and him only. _They all must be scared of him to their bones_, he thought as she was examining the wall flowerish men. _Pathetic creatures._

"What a coincidence. Exactly what I was thinking. The girl it shall be then," he informed gracefully, pretending that somebody would've suggested something.

She made a quiet but panicking groan in the back of her throat. Jack heard her and turned to look at her as if assuring that everything would be fine. She wanted to believe him but as Henry got closer and closer her nerves were starting to give up. But she trusted him and his word and stayed put and calm.

Jack was observing his every move, waiting for him to come to the right spot. He got closer to her and she made a series of more whining whimpers. But Jack had to keep his head cool until the right time had come. _Just a little tick longer..._

When he saw Henry's jawline right above his head, he gathered all his strengths and jumped up. Afterwards the top of his skull was aching like a bitch but the outcome of his bound had been exactly what he had wanted. He had been able to hit his head so hard against Henry's jaw that the clash had knocked him unconscious.

The two Others that had been behind Henry were now looking horrified, first staring at their pier-lying boss and then Jack.

He ignored their frowning and quickly wiggled his tied hands free from the loosened ropes and stood up to untie her too. She tilted her head to his face when he lent closer down. As his ear came to his mouth's level, Kate whispered something that he thought sounded like "Thank you" but he wasn't sure. The expression on her face was grateful and he smiled back to her.

"Jack! Look out!" she suddenly screamed and broke their tender moment as the two men had begun to run towards them.

"Get down!" he ordered her and she obeyed.

The running figures approached quickly and he moved his feet into a more stable position, lowered his chin and braced himself for them.

They weren't difficult for him to fight. With just few pushes and punches, they were both off the pier and splashing in the water. All the anger that had been building inside of him got out. But they weren't going to stay very long in the water and he knew it all too well.

"We need to get moving. Now," he said, grabbing her hand to his own, squeezing it tight and led her towards the jungle.

Suddenly as she was pacing next to him, Kate felt something touch her bare ankle. It sent cold and nasty shivers through her spine and made her feel sick. Taking support from his arm with her free hand, she looked down to figure out what had touch her. It had been Henry. He had started to come back to his senses but he was still too weak to rise up. Her eyes grew bigger from horror and letting out a sharp yelp, Jack pulled her into running.

And she ran. As fast as her tired legs were able to carry her. Every now and then, she felt a yank in her arm when he tried to get her into moving even faster. As they got on the soil of the island, Jack briefly glanced back and saw that the two men were getting up from the water. No time to be wasted.

Another yank in her arm but this time it hurt her and made her squint her eyes closed as the wave of pain went through her. She knew he only meant well and would never do anything intentionally to hurt her.

"Run!"

They galloped a while along the coast line and the salty ocean water that was splashing on the sand stung her feet nastily. There must've been some cuts on them. But there was no time to worry about that. All she should be worried about now was getting as far away from Henry and his gang of bad-asses as they could.

After making sure they had gotten to a safe distance from the pier, Jack slowed down to walking and Kate mimiced his example. She let her grip loosen in his hand, thinking he'd want to let go from her now that there was no need to run anymore. But his hold to her stayed and as he noticed that she began squeezing his palm again, Jack smiled – but so that she wasn't able to see it.

"The coast line makes a 90 degrees turn soon. We could save some time if we go through the jungle instead that we would ramble along the chore," he suggested and as he got to the end of his sentence, Jack spun around on his heels and started walking backwards, facing her pacing figure.

"You're the brain. I just walk behind," she grinned and followed him when he paced towards the palm trees.

His hold to her was still there. Although the situation was dangerous – having the others chasing them – she felt more home and safe than she ever had before since they crashed on this god-forsaken island. Everything seemed right but just for that short spell.

The cold rain started trickling down from the sky, the little droplets tickling her skin and making the grass feel wet and chilly beneath her feet.

He didn't let the rain bother him and led her forward deeper into the shade of the jungle, not turning his head to look back. He made sure that she was fine by clasping her palm every now and then. She always returned to him with another squeeze.

As the rain begun falling down harder, they both got soaking wet and the walking felt strange and unpleasant because the water had glued the clothes to their bodies.

"Ain't trees supposed to stop the rain from coming down so hard to the jungle?" she joked and he let out a little laughter.

"I guess we are living proof that isn't the case," he said looking back.

Kate's hair was flattened against her head and it made her seem shorter than she actually was. His gaze began trailing down from her face but as soon as Kate noticed that his eyes were wandering on her chest, he turned to look forward again. Tiny bits of red blush rose up to colour his cheeks.

Anyone else being caught doing that and she would've gotten angry. But with him, she didn't mind. In his case, she knew that the staring wasn't patronasing macho thing, just that he admired women and their presence. Of course he had never told her this but she knew. His kind of men were rare, so when you did come face to face with one of those rare cases, you'd recognise it.

There were some privileges in walking behind someone – you had the access to explore their backside freely without disturbances. Kate watched carefully and fascinatedly his muscles. How they would tense up in the same rhythm as he paced and which muscles moved when he squeezed her palm.

Kate was so in her own world, she didn't even notice when he had stopped walking and so she bumped into his back. Drifting back to reality, she looked at him questioningly but he ignored her frowning completely. His eyes were fixed on something. She shifted her gaze from him to the far horizon but didn't see a thing there. Just more trees.

"What is it?" she eventually had to ask.

"What is that?" he replied and was still staring to the same spot.

She glanced one more time over her shoulder but the sight was only more jungle.

"What is what? I can't see anything."

"Maybe you'll see it if you come here," he said and grabbed her shoulders with his hands, pulling her back against his chest. One palm resting on her tummy, he pointed at the huge foot statue with his finger.

Making a gasp, Kate pressed harder against him. _Now there's something I wasn't expecting to see on this island._

"What is that?" she repeated his question.

"Looks like a statue to me."

"I mean what is it doing here?"

"Lets go find out," he said and taking her by the hand and begun leading her towards the huge foot.

As they reached the toes, Jack stopped. He slid his hand on the cold concrete and then taking a closer look at the material of the statue. It hadn't been their hallucination or fragment of imagination – it was as real as the other world around them.

"Seems to be a real statue," he informed to Kate as if she hadn't been able to tell it by herself.

"I can see that much," she snapped but calmed back down to normal quickly. "But how on earth does something like this find its way to a place like this?"

"No idea," he said, face turned away from her, he started to walk round the statue.

She didn't have the energy to follow him so she sat down on the ground and waited until he got back. After few minutes he had examined enough and came to sit next to her.

"Found anything special on your little roundabout?"

He frowned at her and then let his gaze fall to the grass. "Nothing. It's like this on the other side too."

Neither one of them seemed to know what to say. So they just sat. First a minute and as time went on, the minute turned into a half an hour.

She started to get more and more tired and the sun had begun to set. Having been without any food made her even more exhausted and the next movement came almost naturally from her. She let her body lean against his shoulder and as she noticed that he didn't make any objections, Kate relaxed and yawned widely, closing her eyes. The last thing she remembers before falling asleep was his arm wrapping around her figure and the kiss that he placed on top of her head.

_Henry came closer to the statue and his men were following him. There was probably an estimate of ten or eleven of them. And they all had guns in their hands._

_His glowing eyes appeared from behind the corner of one stone toe..._

Kate startled and breathed heavily. A nightmare... It had felt so real.

"It's OK. You're safe now," he whispered and pulled her head to his lap, beginning to stroke her curls with a slow rhythm.

She sighed and relaxed again. He was warm and soft beneath her and his skin had a birch scent on it. _How had that gotten there?_ She raised her head up and sniffled his neck area as he closed his eyes and tilted his head to the other side. "Kate. What are you doing?" he murmured.

She didn't answer back. The scent of the Nordic forest got stronger and she pressed her nose against his skin. She wanted to smell all of him. Have all of him.

He stopped questioning everything and Kate felt him relax under her. His palms and finger tips started to hover beneath her top and on her back. Soon he found how to make her skin have goose bumps and so he continued to trail his thumb up and down her spine. She exhaled against his bare neck.

She quickly nipped his skin with her teeth before moving her hands up to cup his head and pressed her lips to kiss him. Jack stopped his hands to the small of her back and begun kissing her in return. It was fast at first but as they got the right rhythm to the kiss, they slowed it down and Kate moved her body so she was sitting on his lap. A long tick went by before she got her position adjusted against him. He added pressure to her back and she wiggled closer to him, sealing every gap that had still been between them.

She made one fast movement with her lips and them broke the kiss. _The button shirt. It need to come off,_ she thought and ripped it open from the front. "God damn! My new shirt!" he yelped, frowning at the piece of clothing in her hand and then her.

"Come on. You had been wearing this old thing for six weeks straight. I don't think you're allowed to call it new anymore."

He grinned wickedly and pulled her face close to his.

"You sure what you are doing?" he asked and looked her into the eyes.

"I always know what I want. Trust me," she said and scooped his lips into a kiss.

Pressing his back against the cold and hard edge of the statue, she decided not to settle for the forest scent and wanted to get her will with him all the way. And he let her do just that.

When the morning came, she awoke before him. The birch scent was gone with the night. Now all she could smell around her was the jungle and the saltiness of the ocean. But she didn't need the special forest aroma anymore. She had him now.


End file.
